Tag Archives: cookies

Ahh holidays! I am officially off work until January 7 and I could not be more excited. I am mostly excited for the leisuring, I cannot lie. These last couple of weeks leading up to the holidays have been INSANE busy, so I really cannot wait to simmer things down. I’m sure I’ll be squeezing in some adventuring though too.

I was so exhausted when I arrived home from work yesterday that I just collapsed fully-clothed on my bed and slept for three hours. It was beautiful. I felt like a new woman when I woke up.

And let’s get to what led to my exhaustion…

Thursday afternoon was the cookie exchange at my work!

We had a great turnout, which equals TONS of cookies! I have never seen so many different types of cookies in one place.

My cookies were in excellent company.

So we all went around the table and loaded our containers up with 1-3 of each type of cookie. It kind of felt like musical chairs. And actually it was really funny because it was kind of a cookie traffic jam. We were all in a circle and no one was moving, so the entire process of getting around the table took over half an hour.

By the end, I had a good haul.

So many delicious cookies! I am not sure what I’m going to do with them all, because I can NOT eat them all. I need to be in a bikini in about three weeks (JAMAICA!!!!) so that is not happening. It’s been hard to resist though. I think I may bring them to my family’s Christmas. They’ll probably be appreciative of that.

Some of the boys were pretty excited for their cookies…

I need to quickly mention that Justin, the tall guy in the photo with the sweet hair and mustache, does not usually look like that. Apparently he wanted to wear the wig and the ‘stache to “match his sweater.” Attractive.

After the cookie party, we had a holiday cocktail party in our studio (which I work in, it is a bit separate from the rest of our office). We shut off all the lights and brought in a bunch of lamps, put on the Christmas tunes, and created a little holiday ambiance with festive fireplaces on our computer screens…

And then we enjoyed some refreshments.

We had a little bar full of holiday-themed drinks.

I sampled all three cocktails, and I really enjoyed the gimlet and the cape cooler. So delicious. We also had some beer kicking around as well.

There were also the strongest rum balls I have EVER had.

And I do mean ever. 150% proof? I don’t think that’s a lie. I had one ball and I felt like there was the equivalent of about four shots in it. I almost spit it out, but I persevered and choked it down. And then I felt incredibly warm and happy.

It was so much fun! Everyone was in their festive gear and ready to party.

I even had a glitter twin, Erin.

We did not plan that, though many people asked us if we did. Just a gold glitter and black blazer coincidence.

Until I changed into my ugly Christmas sweater…

Which I will describe in more detail later because I am attending an ugly sweater party tonight and I will be wearing that bad boy.

We wanted to take a big group photo of everyone, because at one point there was probably about 40 of us, so Justin and I went to move our Christmas tree so we could put it in front of us for the picture. And then we had a bit of an accident, and somehow the tree got knocked over…

And everyone yelled at us and said we ruined Christmas. The photo was cancelled.

The party was only supposed to go until 5:30, but it ended up being so much fun that most people stayed way later to get their festive cheer on. We even had an impromptu ping pong tournament.

Have I mentioned that I love my job? Because I do. Quite a lot. This is the most fun work environment I have ever experienced in my life. It is definitely work hard (we do work hard!!!), play hard, and it’s such a great atmosphere. I have trouble believing this is real life. It’s amazing! I love Christmas for the parties, so three separate work holiday parties? Yes, yes and yes.

Like this:

I just have a few random things I would like to talk about this Friday that don’t really have anything to do with each other. So, here they are in list form.

Potted Potter

You may remember back in March I blogged about a play I saw in Toronto called Potted Potter. You may also remember that it is not actually about Harry Potter smoking illegal substances (as I had originally thought), but it is all seven Harry Potter books condensed into 70 minutes (hence “potted”), performed (and also written) by two British actors Dan and Jeff.

It is kind of a play and a comedy sketch all in one. Fun times, fun times.

When I originally talked about it, quite a few people mentioned they would love to see the play, and were sad it was only showing in Toronto. Well, my favourite foreign chums, guess what? Potted Potter opens off Broadway this Sunday until mid-August. Exciting!

If you live in New York, or are taking a little NY vacay this summer, I HIGHLY recommend seeing it. Highly. I actually went back and saw it a second time with our intern Hannah, and I loved it even more than the first time. Hannah and I were both dying of laughter, honestly, and almost literally…I was laughing so hard at one point that I was concerned I may actually have a heart attack. It is funny. Very, very funny.

That is Jeff. We continued talking after the incident where I said he looked, ah, slightly toasted (you can read about that here if you want), and we are friends now (we actually are, this isn’t one of my random “friends” like Dean with the free oatmeal samples the other day. It’s legit. He’s funny.)

Anyway, go see Potted Potter. I promise you it’s great, whether you are a Harry Potter fan or not! (probably more if you are, though.)

Outbreak

So, I went to visit my beautiful little Nana a few days ago, and I saw this awesome sign on the doors of her nursing home:

Um…? That is terrifying. I think maaaybe they need to use a less dramatic word, because when I hear the word outbreak I immediately picture…

And side note: I miss the Walking Dead!

It was just an outbreak of the flu, so no crazy zombie virus or flesh-eating disease… I wasn’t too concerned, since I haven’t had the flu in almost 20 years (knock on wood times a million) but just to be safe I was careful not to touch anything except my Nana (who actually did have the flu, but she is all better now).

The Cookie Club is Back!

I mentioned before that we have a Cookie Club in our building, where we get together once a week in a fellow Provincial Sport Organization’s office, hang out for 20 minutes or so, and eat cookies. It’s a pretty sweet deal. I have been skipping the cookie club for the last couple of months or so though, so I haven’t been talking about it.

Usually whoever is hosting will send out an email and be like “Hey, it’s cookie time! Come to our office RIGHT NOW!” which is great…except usually the email is actually sent right when it is cookie time, and sometimes there is a delay and I don’t get the email until half an hour later. I don’t want to show up by myself 20 minutes after everyone’s left and be all like

And then make them stand with me all awkwardly while I eat all their cookies (because I could possibly eat ALL their cookies). So I have been missing out on the cookie club, sadly.

And one time I didn’t get the email about the cookie club until the next DAY. I can’t tell you how depressing it is to get an email saying “OMG!!! We have the absolute BEST cookies of ALL time in our office right now, you have to try them, you will DIE!” the day after the fact and after all the cookies are gone. Sad day. Sad, sad day.

But the last two weeks the cookie emails have been sent out hours in advance, so I was all prepared! This week my friend Laura from Ontario Volleyball made banana rainbow chip cookies…

Banana rainbow chip! Hoooooooly those were good. I will be getting her recipe, because yowza. Deliciousness.

Book Hoarding

It has come to my attention that I may be a bit of a book hoarder…

(Yeah, I totally saved all my Chrisopher Pike and RL Stine books and kept them in my guest room…just in case anyone staying over wanted something light to read while recovering from their hangover.)

I think I am usually pretty minimalist when it comes to my possessions, but for some reason with books I save them all! I just can’t bring myself to give them away. They are probably my most prized possessions. I worked at Chapters for about four years, and every year employees would get free admission to the Toronto Book Expo, which I obviously took advantage of. I would be carrying boxes of free books home with me. It was awesome.

So, most of them are moving with me…

And I still have about two more boxes. They are heavy. Sorry to my friends who are helping me move. I WILL make it up to you (with some bevvies and pizza).

National Doughnut Day

It has also come to my attention that today is National Doughnut Day! I think I will be celebrating by making myself a mustache out of my favourite Tim Horton’s honey dip donut…

Like this:

I am a blog slacker (a blacker?). I seem to be getting out of the blogging habit! I’ve been a busy beaver this week and blogging seems to be the first extra curricular activity to fall by the wayside. Also, since I am no longer talking about my daily workouts and eats, posting every day doesn’t seem as important.

But I miss it! I want to get back into the swing of things, and there are some things that are new around here. Time for an update!

First of all, regular season play of Office Boccia is now complete, and we are moving on to the playoffs!

If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you may already know that we play right in our offices at lunchtime against the other Provincial Sport Organizations in my building, and usually have one game a week.

For the second game, we branched out and played in the hallway outside of our office.

As Team Captain, I made the decision to bench my boss for this game because he wasn’t playing up to par (I’m just kidding ;)), so he was the official measurer of the balls (he is circled wayyyyy down at the end of the hallway). The jack ball was thrown all the way from where I am standing taking this picture, to where my boss is measuring. It was quite a distance. And quite dangerous for people from other offices trying to get to the bathroom with balls flying everywhere.

Sadly, we lost this game too.

Out of 20 games, I think we only won 3, and I’m pretty sure we are in last place in our pool.

But not to worry, everyone makes the playoffs, so we have a chance for a huge comeback! I like to joke that we’ve just been hustling everyone this whole time and we are going to come back and own the playoff round. I want that trophy.

Just a basketball trophy painted to look like boccia balls. Still, you get your name engraved on it and it lives in your office until the next season of Office Boccia. Kind of exciting.

Besides boccia, this week has been filled with lunch dates.

My coworker Lexy (who is on maternity leave) dropped by yesterday with her baby Hudson for a little lunch date with my coworker Beth and I.

Hudson is just getting cuter. I have crazy love bursts for that little guy. He is awesome.

We had to get our token picture in front of our office Christmas tree, as Lexy and I have one of us from every year.

And this is the one of us from two years ago…

Aww, we have grown up :).

Today I had a working lunch date with my communications group, which consists of other employees in my building who are also in the communications marketing role.

We usually meet once a month or so, and today we decided to include a festive lunch to celebrate the holidays.

You may recognize Laura on the far right from my post about the cookie club in our building. She made her amazing double chocolate cranberry cookies AGAIN.

I ate about six of them, and that is no exaggeration. I couldn’t stop. Story of my life with cookies…

And that was after this:

Swiss Chalet festive special! I get this once a year and it includes chicken, stuffing, mashed potatoes (or you can get salad or fries, but I like to go all out), and a dinner roll. Quite a lot for lunch, but I rolled with it.

So that’s what’s been going on with me…a lot of lunch dates, and a lot of boccia ball (and some work and also workouts thrown in).

And Ando and I put our Christmas tree up on the weekend.

I feel like we were the last people in the world to do this. But it’s finally up, and I am feeling festive!

So now you are all caught up. I hope you guys have all been having a great week!

Ah, I am so excited that it’s Friday. This week has been a little crazy for me work-wise. I feel like I’ve been saying that on a lot of Friday’s lately, but it is true. My organization has eight championships going on right now so it is BUSY.

Usually I like to paparazzi around the local championships (if you’ve read my blog for a while you may remember me hitting up our Alpine Skiing, Tennis, Rugby, and Baseball championships earlier this year), but right now I had too much going on in the office to make it out.

I also help the organizers do their websites, social media pages, and deal with the media, so it’s a lot of stuff going on all at once. This week I was better off in the office. I was slightly sad because I really enjoy getting out and watching the games, but our football championship is next week and I’ll be there for about 13 hours, so I’m sure that will make up for it. Maybe Dan Marino or Jim Kelly will show up?

I am loving the cookie club. I had to miss it last week because I was away at meetings, but I was back today in full cookie-eating force.

Today’s cookie club was hosted by Ontario Volleyball, and Laura (who is in the picture above with her cookies), made two seriously awesome kinds of cookies.

Around 2pm I got this email:

Um, pistachio cream cheese sugar cookies and double chocolate cranberry cookies? Yeah, I was up in suite 304 within seconds ready to get my hands on those babies.

I am pretty sure Laura just needs to move into my house and be my full-time cookie baker (please Laura?). I have to get the recipes from her because I could not get enough of those double chocolate cranberry cookies. I mentioned the other day that I am loving hot chocolate at the moment, and those cookies tasted like hot chocolate in cookie form! So chocolately and delicious. One of the best cookies I have ever tasted, no lie.

It was a great way to break up my day, and I loved socializing with everyone for a bit.

The weather was ridiculously gorgeous today, and I had a great 5k run outside after work. It was 15 degrees and sunny, and I was so grateful to not be on the treadmill that I made a point to enjoy every second of it. It was starting to get dark at the end of my run, but it was still warm enough for shorts and a T-shirt! I was a happy camper.

After a seriously easy and delicious veggie frittata dinner (I trolled my own recipes page when deciding what to make tonight), I am now ready to leisure for the eve. Here is my plan:

I always think it’s funny when they ask me at the liquor store what type of meal I am pairing my wine with (this happened tonight). Um, good question. Who knows? Maybe some chips later? We’ll see how the night goes…

Actually, I found myself feeling thankful for a lot of things throughout the day today.

First of all, I am so thankful for all of your comments on my cartoon post yesterday about almost getting arrested for “sneaking” on the subway. Those drawings do take a lot of time, and sometimes I wonder when I hit Publish if I am the only person who will find them funny. I obviously find that story really funny, but with those types of things, I wonder if it’s a “you had to be there” kind of funny.

So thank you for commenting, and saying that you laughed :). It seriously made my day. I wondered if maybe you were all just humouring me, and you didn’t find it that funny…but then I heard my boss killing himself laughing in his office this afternoon so I went to investigate, and he was reading that post. So I was thankful that I heard someone’s reaction to it, and it was everything I hoped it would be.

I am thankful that all of my coworkers eat really healthily, and we don’t have junk food lying around on a daily basis to tempt me.

But I am also thankful for coworkers birthdays, and the treats that come along with them.

I am thankful for honey dip doughnuts (my FAVE!), and I am thankful that even though I am 28, I am not too mature to make my doughnut into a honey dip mustache for my own amusement.

I am thankful for office boccia ball, and the exhibition game we played today at lunchtime that helped break up my day. It was a lot of fun.

I was not thankful that my team lost.

I am thankful that I heard about a new group that has formed in my building called the Cookie Club, where we get together every Friday in a fellow Provincial Sport Organization’s office, hang out for 20 minutes or so, and eat cookies. Um, sounds like my kind of club for sure.

I was thankful for that delicious lemon shortbread cookie that one of the girls from Softball Ontario made (look, it’s a softball cookie!). So, so good.

Whoever’s office has been designated as the meeting place that week (it rotates around), is in charge of making the cookies, and I am thankful that everyone has signed up to host until mid-January. So until then, all I have to do is show up and eat cookies.

And I am thankful that I don’t know the people in the Cookie Club very well yet, and they don’t know about my blog, so they don’t know that I am a cookie monster and I am going to show up and eat all their cookies. Muahahaha.

I am thankful for BodyPump. I ate two giant cupcakes and a cookie yesterday, three cookies and a doughnut and a half today, and was feeling a little blech, but BodyPump this evening made me feel healthy and strong.

You guys know I love cookies. I profess my love for them in about 90% of my posts, I’d say. So even if you just skimmed though my blog without reading anything, there are enough pictures of cookies for you to get the memo that yes, I love cookies.

But seriously, if I don’t stop eating cookies, I am going to be 8 bagillion pounds. The amount of cookies that have made their way into my office recently would make even the Cookie Monster jealous.

I. Can’t. Stop. Eating. Cookies.

This is a really meeting-heavy time of year in our office. We have a lot of committees that meet, and our office is the “corporate office”, so therefore the home base. These meetings typically take all day, and obviously we need to feed the attendees, because who can make an executive decision on an empty stomach?

We usually order lunch from the same place, and with lunch comes a platter of cookies. Every time. We have had three meetings so far this week (and another tomorrow), which means three platters of cookies.

Sometimes I will piggyback on the lunch. But because I’m not usually in these committee meetings, I kind of feel like a vulture showing up in their boardroom at lunchtime with a plate in my hand. Obviously I am only there for one thing.

So unless leftovers are brought upstairs, I will usually hold back. I do have some restraint (contrary to what some people may believe).

But I knew there were cookies downstairs…and they were calling to me. After I finished my soup, I wandered downstairs into the boardroom to snag a quick little cookie. Sneaking in for a cookie, saying hi to everyone, and ducking back out is no biggie. And one cookie is no biggie.

But once the meeting is over, the remainder of the cookies are brought back up to our office. And since everyone knows about my love of cookies, they are brought into my office. What do you do when someone sets 30 cookies down in front of you and says, “I brought these for you!”

I try to say “Oh no no, I really can’t eat another cookie…” (halfheartedly, fine)

But then they say “Hey, didn’t you run 7k yesterday? You deserve a cookie!”

This is my own fault. I am the one going around raving on to anyone who will listen about how much I love cookies, because it’s true! I love them so much it’s hard to keep quiet about it.

That is the problem. I love cookies so much that I can’t say no to them! If you bring a platter of cookies into my office, I could easily eat the entire platter!

Shmanyway, that is my rant for the day. I don’t know what else to say about that. I ate a ridiculous amount of cookies and then I felt sick. (Note: I am exaggerating when I say I ate the entire platter. That would just be crazy. But it was still too many!)

At least I hit up BodyPump after work to hopefully counteract some of that cookie goodness…or turn it into muscle or something.

Something needs to be done though. I may have to go on a cookie strike or something. I don’t know. One cookie keeps leading to several more, and it has to end!

Welcome!

Thanks for popping by! My name is Lindsey, and I pretty much have two moods: happy, or hungry. I like to tell stories and draw pictures of my adventures. I will do just about anything to make someone laugh.

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Feel free to email me at happyorhungry [at] gmail [dot] com with any questions or feedback. I'd love to hear from you!